Navassa Island

World Facts

Introduction

Background

This uninhabited island was claimed by the US in 1857 for its guano. Mining took place between 1865 and 1898. The lighthouse, built in 1917, was shut down in 1996 and administration of Navassa Island transferred from the US Coast Guard to the Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs. A 1998 scientific expedition to the island described it as a "unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity." The following year it became a National Wildlife Refuge and annual scientific expeditions have continued.

Geography

Location

Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, 30 nm west of Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti

People and Society

Population

uninhabitednote: transient Haitian fishermen and others camp on the island

Government

Country name

conventional long form: noneconventional short form: Navassa Islandetymology: the flat island was named "Navaza" by some of Christopher COLUMBUS' sailers in 1504; the name derives from the Spanish term "nava" meaning "flat land, plain, or field"

Dependency status

unorganized, unincorporated territory of the US; administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boqueron, Puerto Rico; in September 1996, the Coast Guard ceased operations and maintenance of Navassa Island Light, a 46-meter-tall lighthouse on the southern side of the island; there has also been a private claim advanced against the island